Financial aid is money given to students to help pay for college. Financial aid can fall into one of four types:

Type of Aid

Provider

Basis of Award

Repayment Needed?

1

Grants

Federal
State

Financial Need

No

2

Scholarships

State
College
Private Organizations

Financial Need or Academic Merits

No

3

Employment / Work Study

Federal
College

Need and non-need based employment opportunities are available

No

4

Loans

Federal
State
Private

Need and non-need based loans are available

Yes

Federal and state grants and scholarships are more favorable than loans because they do not have to be repaid--they are free money. In a Federal Work-Study program, students work for a certain number of hours per week on or off-campus to earn money for college expenses. Students are encouraged to apply for as many different sources of financial aid as possible in order to pay for their college education.

The four primary sources of aid for students are the federal government, the state of Ohio, the college, and private organizations. The main provider is the federal government.

See specific sections of Federal, State, and Institutional Financial Aid for more details.

Financial Need:

The majority of financial aid is based on financial need. Financial need it determined by subtracting the student’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from the Cost of Attendance (COA). See below for examples:

COA - EFC = Financial Need

The Cost of Attendance is more than direct costs of tuition, fees and books. It also includes indirect college expenses such as living expenses, transportation to and from school, as well as personal and other program related expenses.

Here are two examples of budgets at Sinclair Community College for the 2014-2015 Academic year (these may change annually):

*The out of county surcharge for two semesters is $1,128. The out of state surcharge for two semesters is $4,392.

Note: The college reserves the right to change without notice statements concerning rules, policies, fees, curricula, courses, or other matters.

Laboratory fees are determined for individual classes. Any additional costs for programs can be found in the Online Course Schedule Planner for each individual class that requires payment of additional fees.